Don't forget it, if you please!" The speaker
contracted his brows.
"Falkner, then. What I want to say is this: Let well enough alone.
If the ingots are safe, permit them to remain so. Don't be foolhardy
enough to put any one on the scent of them."
"Don't be troubled about that. I have sacrificed too much in gaining
the wealth desired ever to hold it with a careless or relaxing
grasp. And yet its mere possession brings not the repose of mind,
the sense of independence, that were so pleasingly foreshadowed.
Something is yet lacking to make the fruition complete. I want a
companion; and there is only one, in the wide world, who can be to
me what I desire."
"Fanny Markland?"
"Yes."
"You wish to make her your wife?"
"She is too pure to be happy in any other relation. Yes; I wish to
gain her for my bride."
"A thing more difficult than you imagine."
"The task may be difficult; but, I will not believe, impossible."
"And it is in this matter you desire my service?"
"Yes."
"I am ready. Point the way, and I will go.
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